Ulrich Franzen

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Ulrich Franzen was one of America’s best-known practitioners of the Brutalist architectural style of rough-finished sculptural concrete that articulates the building’s structure and was particularly prevalent in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s.

Much of the Brutalist architecture in the UK — such as the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth, the Trinity Centre in Gateshead and Birmingham Library — has been demolished in the past few years amid a slew of polls voting them Britain’s ugliest buildings. Meanwile, Franzen’s buildings, such as the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas along with Hunter College and the Philip Morris Headquarters, both in New York, remain standing